Iterate Weekly - Issue 82
This week we're looking at Google's new video chat project, thinking through our calendars, the modern milkman, Pharrell is putting his life up for auction, and The New Megatrends!
Welcome to issue 82 of Iterate Weekly!
Just a reminder that you can always reply to this email or leave a comment on the web version. I read all of them, and I appreciate the feedback, questions, and insights from all of you.
Let’s jump into this week’s stories.
🤖 Tech
Google’s Project Starline brings video chats to life
I think it’s safe to say that plenty of us have video chat fatigue at this point. While there are still times that I marvel at the ability to talk to virtually anyone in the world on video, the experience isn’t always ideal.
Google is hoping to usher in a new era of video communications with “Project Starline”. It’s a video chat booth that makes users feel like they’re actually having a conversation in-person.
The service uses special cameras to create 3D images of the subjects who are chatting. It’s mean to make the conversation feel more natural than a small video window on a computer screen or a cumbersome VR headset.
We’re still in the early stages with this and Google is slowly rolling it out to enterprise customers. I could see this being useful for important meetings where body language is key. Sure, there will always be value in flying out to meet someone in-person, but those could fill that niche for something more formal than a typical video call but not worthy of physical travel.
The technology is likely still too expensive for widespread consumer adoption, but it certainly looks like the future to me. Back when I was working in a physical office, we bought several “telephone style” booths for people to use when taking calls. The booths weren’t very soundproof and the camera angles and echo were always a bit wonky. Project Starline seems like the natural evolution of that idea.
With hybrid work certainly here to stay, having technology like this installed in offices could prove to be a worthy reason leave home. Who would have thought that new technology for remote communication could actually get people into physical spaces? Or I suppose if you had the cash, you could setup a pretty sweet video booth with this technology in your home.
Here’s a video that Googled produced to give you a better idea of how it all works.
Do you think technology like Project Starline will actually change the future of video communications or is it just another fad?
🎓 Education/Productivity
Thinking through the calendar
Are you satisfied with the way you’re using your calendar? Do you live and die by what’s listed in your agenda every hour? It seems to be something that many people struggle with, or at least have differing viewpoints on.
I was inspired by Anne Helen Petersen’s recent story about time management with respect to calendars (embedded Substack link below)
I’ve personally written about my love for Calendly and calendar automations in the past and I’m still a big fan of injecting as much technology as possible into your calendar system. But I do think that it’s worth putting some thought into your own personal process to find what works best for you.
Petersen also references an amazing New Yorker article from Jill Lepore that looks at how we restrict ourselves by the arbitrary rules of the calendar. Let’s face it, the seven-day week is a social construct. Days, months, and years all make some level of sense based on the cycles of nature, but earth doesn’t really care about seven-day increments so why do we?
Like most of Anne Helen Petersen’s writing on Culture Study, there is no singular answer to this puzzle. She does a great job of collecting a variety of perspectives on how people are using calendars and breaking up their days and weeks. I’m eager to hear more of her findings as they come in.
But for right now, I just want to encourage you (and myself) to be better aware of how we fill those daily, weekly, and monthly calendars. They may just seem like a simple grid of numbered days but they have more power over us than we realize.
How are you all using calendars? Has technology helped or hurt that relationship?
♻️ Health & Environment
The Rounds provides sustainable delivery service
Do you ever wish we could go back to the good ol’ days where there was a local milkman who came by each week to deliver fresh goods in sustainable packaging?
The Rounds is a new startup that hopes to make this dream a reality.
Don’t get me wrong, there have been plenty of great delivery services that have popped up over the last few years. You can get many many things delivered fresh to your door if you live a reasonable distance from a large metropolitan area. But there ends up being a lot of waste involved in most delivery services. Boxes, bags, ice packs, other assorted containers and packing materials. It all ends up being a big mess that has a large carbon footprint.
The Rounds is hoping to setup a system where there products are delivered in reusable containers that can be picked up on future delivery runs. They offer more than 120 staple items like hand soap and cereal, almost all in reusable packaging like glass jars. Most products also come in one option to avoid decision fatigue. Rather than an endless scroll to pick the right shampoo, you can be content in choosing the one shampoo option that’s offered. Sounds like a novel concept to me.
Right now the service is only available in densely populated areas of cities like Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; Miami; and Atlanta with hopes that their latest round of $42 million Series A funding can help them expand to other markets.
I’ve used similar services in the past that have struggled to keep up with demand. Several CSA delivery services come to mind as well as a local delivery service for mom & pop shops. In fact, when researching for this story I came across a local “milkman-esque” service in my town that seems to be no longer accepting new orders, a darn shame. Sustainable local delivery is a tough nut to crack. I’m definitely rooting for The Rounds to find success.
What would it take to get you to shift from big box delivery services to something more sustainable like The Rounds?
🛍 Grab Bag
Do you want to buy Pharrell’s Stuff?
Pharrell Williams wants to sell you some of his stuff. Do you want to buy them?
He’s creating a new auction site called Joopiter that allows A-Listers like himself to put items from their personal collection up for auction.
It’s a really fascinating idea. Williams, like many of us, decided to do some cleaning and downsizing during the pandemic. We all have closets, basements, and attics to go through when unloading some of our unwanted belongings. But what if you’re a celebrity? Should you just bring your items to the same thrift store as mere mortals? No, you should post them on Joopiter to the highest bidder!
All jokes aside, this is could be a pretty profitable company. Williams is the first user of the app and posted many items from his personal collection. But it’s a great opportunity for other celebs to follow suit in the future. And it’s important to note that proceeds from these initial auctions are going to worthwhile charities, Pharrell isn’t just pocketing all this cash.
Rather than just bidding on pretty items, each product comes with its own personal story from Pharrell. He’s well known for being an avid collector of rare items and I’m sure some of these things aren’t easy to part with. By attaching a story to each of them, it may feel more cathartic to send them on to a new owner. I think I get the same feeling when I write long, evocative Craigslist posts when I’m parting with seemingly boring items.
If you’re a Pharrell fan and have some cash to burn, go check out Joopiter today.
Would you be excited to bid on some random celebrity gear on a site like Joopiter?
💬 Quote of the Week
"Men are what they are because of what they do. Not what they say."
-Fredrik Backman, A Man Called Ove
📕Content Recommendation
The New Megatrends: Seeing Clearly in the Age of Disruption
Here’s a book recommendation for you. I’m currently reading “The New Megatrends” by Marian Salzman.
Salzman has made a career of looking into a crystal ball to try to anticipate major shifts in culture, technology, politics and more. Surely no one is able to accurately predict every aspect of the future but she’s been pretty darn close.
The book takes a look at the window of time between 2000-2038. It’s a nearly four-decade span where we can really draw conclusions about where things are going. Salzman essentially looks at what’s happened in the first half of that window to predict what’s coming in the second half.
It’s a timely read that has a heavy focus on how the global pandemic has shifted the speed in which change happens and we’re still seeing the full ramifications of that.
The subtitle of the book is “Seeing Clearly in the Age of Disruption” and if you work in any industry that may be disrupted in the coming years (hint: pretty much all of them), you’ll gain immense value from this book.
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Thanks for reading, I’ll see you next week!
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Whoa, Starline is unbelievable awesome!